John 8:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Two remained: the wretched woman and Compassion. Thus, when they had examined themselves and by their departure had said everything about themselves, they left the woman, burdened with great sin, with Him Who was without sin.

Since she had heard this, "Let him who is without sin be the first to cast a stone at her," she thought that He would punish her. No sin could be found in Him. But He, Who had repelled her adversaries with the tongue of righteousness, lifted His meek eyes upon her and asked: "Has no one condemned you?"

He granted forgiveness. But as He granted forgiveness, He lifted His head and said to her: "Has no one cast a stone at you?" She did not say: "Why? What have I done, Lord? Am I guilty?" She did not say this, but said: "No one, Lord," for she had condemned herself.

And when all had gradually dispersed, avoiding His gaze, and He alone remained with the woman, He said to her: “Where are those who accused you? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on sin no more.” The Lord commanded that she sin no more, just as He also commanded other things in the law. But whether she fulfilled this or not, Scripture does not say.

They departed and left the woman untouched, and therefore uncondemned, in that which they also found in themselves. Otherwise they would have detained her.

If, because of your hardness of heart, you do not receive the penitent, then you sin against the Lord God. You do not obey our Savior and God, and you do not act as He acted toward that sinful woman.

The elders placed her before Him and, leaving judgment to Him, departed. But He, who searches hearts, asked her and said, “Have the elders condemned you, My daughter?”

She answered Him, “No, Lord.” Then He said to her, “Go, and I do not condemn you.”

Therefore here our Savior, King and God, must be your pattern, O bishops. Imitate Him. Be “quiet and meek,” merciful and compassionate, peaceable and slow to anger, “apt to teach” and instructive, receiving and exhorting.

Do not be “quick-tempered” and harsh, mocking, proud, or boastful (1 Pet 3:4; 1 Tim 3:2; Tit 1:7).

Nevertheless, on the next day the Lord again came into the temple. There, in one of the porches, He again wished to turn the whole attention of the people to Himself.

After resolving the question of the sinful woman brought to Him, He cried aloud to the people: “I am the light of the world. He who comes to Me shall not walk in darkness.”

This was, as it were, an encouragement for everyone constrained by the decree of the Sanhedrin to leave that dark assembly, without fear of perishing.

The light of the nations, which Israel had been until then, was darkened. A new sun was rising for the sons of Israel who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, and also for the Gentiles.

Jesus Christ spent the night after the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles on the Mount of Olives. The next morning He came again into the temple.

All the people, who had not yet dispersed to their homes after the feast, hastened to gather around Him. Jesus Christ sat down and began to teach.

At that time the scribes, experts in the law, and the Pharisees, strict zealots for legal righteousness, brought to Him a woman taken in adultery. She was either a married woman or a betrothed woman (Lev 20:10; Deut 22:23-24).

Testing Him, they asked, “Moses in the law commanded that such should be stoned. What do You say?” Such a law concerning adulterers and adulteresses had indeed been given by Moses, as was said above.

Jesus spared those who withdrew and did not even look at them. When the temple had emptied, He turned to the sinner, who was standing motionless in the midst of the temple, and asked, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?”

This woman had every opportunity to leave the temple unnoticed with the people and hide. But she remained. She did not dare depart.

She now understood that wherever she might flee, she could never hide from Him who knows even the thoughts of men.

In the consciousness of her sinfulness, she may have been ready to throw herself at the Judge’s feet and ask forgiveness in repentance.

Yet she must have felt what immeasurable abyss lay between her and the sinless Christ. For this reason, perhaps, she stood motionless, not daring even to look at Him.

Only the meek question of Jesus brought her out of her painful stupor, and she answered, “No one, Lord.”

The guilty woman stood trembling before her divine Judge and did not depart, awaiting His final decision. Turning His infinitely loving gaze upon her, the Savior asked her: “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, Lord,” she answered. “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more,” He said in His infinitely merciful judgment. At the same time He proved His right, according to His Godhead, to place mercy above the customary law.

“Has no one condemned you?” By withdrawing, they showed that in conscience they could not condemn the woman to the punishment they had indicated. Otherwise they would not have left her free.

When the accusers had withdrawn, the Lord said to the woman, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.” On another occasion He also said, “Who made Me a judge over you?” (Lk 12:14).

He did not come to earth in order to examine and judge worldly affairs. He came to urge the sinner: “Sin no more.” Sin is not joy or honor for the soul, but sorrow. Therefore do not repeat it.

From the fact that Jesus did not cast a stone at the adulteress, one must not conclude that it is unjust to punish adultery. Otherwise, from His refusal to divide the brothers’ inheritance, one would have to conclude that dividing an inheritance between brothers is sinful.

“Sin no more,” He said to the woman. It is clear that, according to His judgment, adultery is a sin that must be fled.

The Lord, in His great mercy, said, “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (Jn 3:17; 12:47).

The Lord does not pronounce a human judgment over the fallen woman. She is one of the lost sheep whom the Shepherd has found in the mountains and deserts of the world, and whom He wishes to save, not condemn.

But elsewhere we read, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn 5:22). How else can these Gospel passages be reconciled, except by seeing in the judgment given to the Son of God the judgment of infinite mercy?

This mercy is expressed in the Lord’s words: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Mt 18:11).